


Heartache By The Number Part 3

by TheThirdCharles



Series: Fallout: New Vegas- Heartache By The Number [3]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 05:56:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10530309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheThirdCharles/pseuds/TheThirdCharles
Summary: Where would a dystopian western be without oaths of revenge? Probably somewhere happier.





	

The surviving LEGIONARY ASSASSIN from Part I, with his head, Legion helmet torn and broken, and right arm barely surfaced in the rubble, puts his right arm out of the debris. His arm is horribly battered, with multiple bleeding wounds. He coughs painfully. He pulls free his left arm, and crawling, he pulls his torso out of the rubble. He stops, screaming in pain, due to the broken state of his ribs. A shadow suddenly looms over him. He looks up at it.

PRIME DECANUS  
It appears you have failed, brother.

PRIME DECANUS and three PRIME LEGIONARIES stand in front of the Legionary Assassin, now half out of the debris.

LEGIONARY ASSASSIN  
Yes. The Courier escaped, killing my entire  
squadron. Would you execute me for my failure?

PRIME DECANUS  
No. Instead, I offer you redemption.

Two of the Prime Legionaries grab Legionary Assassin.

PRIME DECANUS  
I intend to complete the order Caesar gave you, and if your Decanus’ team was unable  
to bring him down, I plan to make use of every element to succeed where he failed.

They yank him free of the rubble, horribly injured and screaming.

PRIME DECANUS  
Meaning you.

Prime Decanus boldly steps in front of Legionary Assassin, who slumps from his injuries.

PRIME DECANUS  
Tell me all you know of the Courier and aid in his  
assassination, and you may yet be free of this humiliation.

LEGIONARY ASSASSIN  
Yes, sir. We had tracked them from the Mojave  
Outpost and ambushed them a couple of miles out. 

Prime Decanus opens a sheath on his uniform, drawing a handgun.

LEGIONARY ASSASSIN  
He had a girl with him. Red hair, aggressive nature, double-barreled shotgun,  
and cowboy hat. We had heard they were headed for the Crimson Caravan.

PRIME DECANUS  
That sounds like Rose of Sharon Cassidy. That profligate bitch  
has caused more than enough trouble for our patrols before, and  
now she openly attacks our men. Rest assured, she dies with him.

Prime Decanus hands Legionary Assassin a 10mm pistol.

LEGIONARY ASSASSIN  
And now?

PRIME DECANUS  
We move for Crimson Caravan.

The Legionaries and Decanus begin walking, tensely, weapons slung over their backs. Legionary Assassin keeps up with the group in spite of the pain.

LEGIONARY ASSASSIN  
And of my wounds?

PRIME DECANUS  
Be grateful to still have your head. Let vengeance numb  
your pain. It is the most powerful things one can feel.

CASS and COURIER walk to Durable Dunn’s ruined Caravan, shotgun in Cass’ hand, concerned look on Courier’s face. They’re in the same stances as Prime Decanus and Legionary Assassin.

COURIER  
Careful. I’ve seen that look before, and I know where it leads.

CASS  
If you aren’t going to stick with me, then go. I can handle this on my own.

Courier falls a step behind, looking at her, trying to calm her down.

COURIER  
You know I’m staying with you, but you need to keep a cool  
head about this. You can’t go charging in, getting yourself killed.

CASS  
I think I see it.

COURIER  
Whatever we find, you can’t go on like this.

Cass walks forward, shotgun stock at her shoulder, ready to aim at any moment.

CASS  
I’ll do what I need to.

Cass enters the perimeter of the sacked Caravan scattered around a semicircle of a ditch and a weathered rope bridge. It’s more of the same. A dead pack brahmin is riddled with bullet and laser wounds, its cargo spilled out onto the road. There’s two piles of ash, one pile of radioactive green slush sprayed as if a man was melted into it by plasma. Cass continues, spotting an additional corpse of a caravaneer rendered unidentifiable by a grizzly collection of shotgun and laser wounds with a 9mm submachine gun next to it. Cass walks further into it and is surprised to find an intact body of a man wearing conventional leather armor of wasteland groups like the Crimson Caravan Guards, next to a bloodstained lever-action shotgun. She gets one knee to inspect it. She sees an emblem of the Crimson Caravan on his armor, raising an eyebrow.

CASS  
This isn’t...

Her eye is caught by another body, this one sloped over the ditch. One can just barely make out the black combat armor it wears. Cass walks briskly over the edge of the ditch. A shotgun blast hits the ground just in front of her. Cass draws her shotgun. A sitting CARAVANEER ASSASSIN, a downed Crimson Caravan Guard in a pool of dried blood, with bullet wounds across his eye line and along one of his legs, uses the lever to ready his shotgun. Cass fires, hitting him slightly in the arm, causing him to drop his shotgun. He screams.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Fuck!

Cass moves closer to him, the Caravaneer Assassin rendered helpless, clutches his grazed arm.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
At least you’re human, I guess, but goddamn! Help me!

Cass lowers her shotgun, realizing what is happening, noticing the body of a Caravaneer with a large neck wound at the foot of the hill. 

CASS  
Are you blind or something?

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Shot across the eye-line in a spree of bad luck. 

CASS  
Bad luck is finding out your weapon’s jammed. Being shot up as  
thoroughly as you have while your buddies and the other guys are  
piles of corpses and ashes? Now, that’s something else entirely.

Cass loudly reloads her shotgun. Caravaneer Assassin hears this and is intimidated.

CASS  
Now talk. I want the truth about it all.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
I’m a guard with the Crimson Caravan. A couple of us were sent out here with  
a couple of the Van Graff’s boys to thin the competition a little; Wiping  
out entire rival caravans. I mean, at first, we had our doubts about this.

In flashback imagery, he stands uninjured, hands in his pockets. Another Caravan Guard stands behind him, anxiously pacing, and a third Caravan Guard smokes, sitting on a rock, shotgun leaned against his leg.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
It’s not something any of us expected to be assigned. We’re not soldiers, and  
even if we were, NCR don’t use its men to wipe out its own people. But  
McLafferty tells us we’re to do as we’re told and we’d be paid as top tier mercs.

The Caravan guards look up to see two Van Graff Assassins walk up, one with a plasma rifle and one with a laser rifle, both with the guns in their arms, both wearing standard issue Van Graff combat armor. Their expressions are smug and strictly business.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Then the “assignment advisors” Alice told us about showed up. “Assignment  
advisors”, my ass! Those fucking goons were pros. The Van Graffs sent us a  
pair of their best to help clear out any of the tougher guards. And they were packing  
lasers and plasma guns. The kind of shit I’d have to work five years to afford. 

The five of them gather around a map of the Mojave Wasteland. One of the Van Graff Assassins points to the location of Cassidy Caravans.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
First one we’d hit was Cassidy Caravans, next was Griffin Wares, then  
Durable Dunn. Knock over those three, and Crimson Caravans could  
get three steps closer to bagging a monopoly and the Van Graffs  
get some sort of energy weapons deal with the NCR.

The Crimson Caravan Assassins and Van Graff Assassins hide behind boulders, Caravan Assassins close to the road, shotguns drawn, Van Graffs further away doing the same with their energy rifles. CASSIDY CARAVANS, consisting of JACKIE, a second man, a woman, and a pack brahmin heavily loaded with gear walk down the road fairly close to the Caravan Assassins.

CASS  
So you found Cassidy Caravans?

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
First stop.

CASS  
And you killed them?

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
It’s not like it was easy. Same line of work as me, no reason for  
me to hate them. Hell, either one of us could’ve easily been in the  
other’s shoes, and Alice could’ve ordered them to snuff me out.

Caravaneer Assassin steps out from behind cover to look down the sights of his shotgun.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
But none of that could matter. It couldn’t be too hard, could it? Just a little  
twitch of the finger and they’d be rotting and I’d have my payment. My  
partners and the Van Graffs had already left cover. If I don’t jump out shooting,  
what’ll they do? And if by some thumb of God, they lost the firefight? Cassidy  
Caravans lets me walk away after I was with the guys who tried to snuff them out?

Caravaneer Assassin in the far end of the panel shoots the female Caravaneer.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
So I shot one. The first shot fired. Nerves had gotten  
to me and I opened fire on this little blonde thing.

He freezes for a moment as his allies move quickly out from behind cover and start shooting.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
There’s a reason they arm us with  
shotguns. You don’t even have to aim. 

The female Caravaneer stumbles, bleeding from the right side of her chest. She’s been hit, going into shock, surprised and gasping for air. Jackie screams in horror and anger, drawing his gun. The male Caravaneer similarly tries to draw. Shotgun blasts, laser fire, and plasma fire shoot at Cassidy Caravans. The pack brahmin and its cargo are strafed with shotgun shots.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Caravan guards aren’t meant to be killers. I’d never  
shot anyone didn’t have it coming before this.

The male Caravaneer is disintegrated by a laser blast, and the female Caravaneer is hit by more shotgun blasts, falling into a bloody heap. Jackie is hit in the side by a plasma rifle shot, but still manages to fire at one of the Caravaneer Assassins. The pack brahmin has fallen, as thoroughly killed as the female Caravaneer. 

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
But now, it’s all changed.

One of the Caravaneer Assassin next to the narrating one is shot twice, once in the arm and once in the chest. Caravaneer Assassin’s eyes get wide and angry.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Some jumpy kid put some lead into my buddy, and I lost it.

Jackie has fallen on one knee, using his free hand to grab his plasma wound. He turns just in time to see the laser blast a split second away from his head. His expression is one of hatred and frustration.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
He’s lucky the laser got him first.

With all of Cassidy Caravans dead, the five Assassins walk away, the Assassin who was shot limps with them. The Caravan’s remains are smoking behind them.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Third of the way done, and my buddy’s wounds get  
infected. Half of the way to Griffin Wares, he drops.

Griffin Wares’ Caravan consists of three caravaneers and a pack brahmin. The caravaneers draw small caliber pistols and nervously take aim at the Assassins, who shoot back at the caravaneers.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
What was an easy five man sweep turned into something a little more complex.

The brahmin and one of the caravaneers have been killed, as the caravaneer falls, disintegrating into a pile of ash. The other two Griffin Wares Caravaneers have 9mm pistols and fire at the Assassins, who are enclosed within the one story remains of a mostly demolished building of wooden planks, beams, and stripped wall panels. The Caravaneer Assassins are on the inside of the formation, with a Van Graff on either side of the building.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
A couple of them were better shots, to the point we were pinned down, but...

The Van Graff Assassin to the left of the Caravaneer Assassins sprints up to Griffin Wares, hip firing his plasma rifle and screaming a battle cry. The bullets of the Caravaneers bounce off of or only mildly impact his armor.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
A couple nine-mils are nothing against a Van Graff charging like a tank.

One of the remaining members of Griffin Wares has been melted into a pile of radioactive-green goo. The other attempts to reload his 9mm pistol, stepping backwards quickly, intimidated by the charge. Van Graff Assassin is very close to the surviving Griffin Wares Caravaneer, putting his rifle to his throat.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
I’m no pushover-

The Caravaneer raises his hands in surrender, dropping his pistol.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
-but those guys are forces of nature.

The Van Graff Assassin fires, blasting the Caravaneer forcefully backwards, taking his head off, dismemberment made bloodless by his melting into radioactive-green goo mid-blast.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
At least until we got to our third hit.

The Assassins lay down in the ditch , waiting for Durable Dunn’s caravan. DURABLE DUNN, a man with a large, black leather vest, five o’clock shadow, and a bandana, carrying a pump action shotgun, walks with three DUNN CARAVANEERS, tough looking guards wearing western style clothes, carrying 10mm submachine guns, approaches with another pack brahmin.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Durable Dunn was a tough son of a bitch. Not too friendly, but when he  
went to deliver something, you know damn sure he got it done. He had a decent  
crew, too. Higher grade weapons and way more aggressive than the other two. 

Durable Dunn spots out of the corner of his eye one of the Assassins, who waits for the ambush, clueless that he’s been spotted. 

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
It didn’t help that we were tired and getting sloppy after all that time on the road killing.

Durable Dunn motions to his guards, who draw their weapons and move to the edge of the ditch. The Assassins remain unaware of this.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
And it looked like they were even able to fucking spot us.

The Dunn Caravaneers open fire on the Caravaneer Assassins, next to each other in the trench. The Assassin opposite the narrator is shot viciously with tens of bullets. The narrating Assassin tries moving away, but is hit up along the side of his leg.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Wiped out my backup, and even took my goddamn leg from me.

The surviving Caravaneer Assassin stumbles back, now paralyzed in his leg, firing two shots clumsily at the Dunn Caravaneers. One misses, but the other hits one in the torso, knocking down the Dunn Caravaneer, killed by the shot. 

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Needless to say, I wasn’t going to let them walk away to tell the story.

The Van Graff Assassins charge up the small hill to the top of the trench. 

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
So the Van Graffs see the mark is getting the upper hand and  
charge the Dunns from up the trench, but from what I heard...

Durable Dunn shoots one of the Van Graff Assassin’s heads clean off, splattering the other, who seems to keep going.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
All the armor in the world can’t make up for a lack of common sense. Who knows?  
Maybe he thought Dunn and the others were a bunch of rubes like Cassidy and Griffin.

The surviving Van Graff Assassin picks up the fallen Assassin’s laser rifle, firing angrily at Durable Dunn.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
But eventually, I think the other one got his shit together.

Durable Dunn is hit by the laser, blasting through his upper body. 

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
I mean, Dunn was tough, but the guy’s still human. Lasers and  
plasma shooting at you, you aren’t walking away from that.

The Van Graff Assassin shoots the energy rifles at the Dunn Caravaneers, disintegrating one of them and hitting the other one of them across the stomach, burning him with plasma.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
I owe that Van Graff my life, but it’s not like he’s around anymore.

Dunn fires back, from the ground.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Too bad I’ll never get to buy him a drink. Hell, too bad Durable Dunn lived up to his name.

The Van Graff Assassin is shot in the arm, the buckshot cutting through half of it. He drops the laser rifle, firing with the plasma rifle.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Surrounded by those guys, getting shot from all sides. It’s a shitty way to die.

CASS  
Yeah, I could see why.

Dunn is shot in the head, melting into green slush.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
So, one way or another, he kills Dunn, but that isn’t good enough.

The remaining Dunn Caravaneer unloads on the Van Graff Assassin, piercing his armor and killing him.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
A 10mm was the last gun I heard, so I got ready for the guard.

He crouches, reloading, eying the bodies to look for signs of life, finding none.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Then a little bit of quiet before he remembers I’m alive, the fucking hick!

He gets up, with the Caravaneer Assassin’s shotgun in the lower portion of the panel.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
I goddamn showed him what happens when you take my leg!

The Caravaneer Assassin fires, hitting the Dunn Caravaneer in the neck, as he shoots back, dying. 

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Right through his fucking neck!

Caravaneer Assassin is the sole survivor, shot across the eye line, horribly blinded, screaming in pain. 

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
That’s the last thing I see, before out of dumb luck, a bullet of his blinds me.

Caravaneer Assassin sits, broken in the ditch in regret over having lost his sight and leg. Cass crouches in front of him listening to him. Courier stands near the body of the neck-shot victim, who had rolled to the bottom of the hill.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
The money’s waiting back at Crimson Caravan for me. I might’ve even  
got their cuts, but there’s no way I’m getting there like this... unless...

Caravaneer Assassin gestures energetically, now sensing that there’s still hope.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
You can bring me there for it! I-I’ll split their cuts, tell McLafferty  
you helped kill the caravans after the others were killed! At  
the very least, she’ll give you a fortune for your silence! 

Cass brings herself face to face with him, close up.

CASS  
Alright. One question before we head out. You’re sure you killed all of them?

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Yeah! Except the Cassidy girl. She wasn’t with the caravan when we hit it.

Caravaneer Assassin is frustrated at this.

CASS  
So there’s still someone out there with ample reason to hunt you down? Great. What’s her deal?

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
It’s not like I could see her coming anyway.

Cass stares at him humorlessly.

CASS  
Well, I can.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Fine, fine. Red hair, cowgirl getup, double barreled shotgun, hell of a temper.

Cass presses both barrels into his forehead, not a smile on her face. Caravaneer Assassin just begins realizing what has happened.

CASS  
Spot on.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Oh shit.

Cass whacks him across the head with her shotgun. He goes is knocked over, painfully hitting the ground.

CASS  
YOU FUCKING MURDERER!

He tries crawling to sit up. He’s bleeding from a fresh wound on his head. He looks up to her, with his pleading, broken eyes, in fear.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Don’t do this! I didn’t wanna! I was just doing my job!

Cass hits him roughly with the stock of the shotgun.

CASS  
And they were doing theirs before you turned them into dust!

The Caravaneer Assassin is nearly unconscious, begging for mercy.

CARAVANEER ASSASSIN  
Fucking job! Stop! Please!

Cass takes a moment to breathe, still running on rage.

CASS  
Did you stop at my friends?!

The panel shows the Caravaneer Assassin, fearfully realizing his life is over.

CASS  
Or Griffin’s?!

Cass swings down again, with a sickening crack. Only the Caravaneer Assassin’s arms and legs are visible from this view. He’s dead.

CASS  
Or Dunn’s?!

Cass raises the shotgun to melee him again, an expression of blind rage on her face.

CASS  
I’ll make you goddamn wish you’d had your  
head shot off with your band of pillaging fucks-

Courier walks forward to put his hand on her shoulder, but she’s already moved to hit Caravaneer Assassin again.

COURIER  
Cass.

Cass hits the body again, yelling, staining the stock of her shotgun with blood, which splatters into the air.

CASS  
Just thank god you’re not back at camp when I get  
through feeding McLafferty both fucking barrels!

He holds her back from hitting the body again.

COURIER  
CASS!

Courier pulls Cass off of the body, its head now a bloody mess. She’s outraged at his interference. She calms down, as Courier lets go of her. She drops her shotgun and runs her hands along her head as if trying to think clearly. Cass turns to Courier.

CASS  
That’s that, then.

GLORIA VAN GRAFF, sitting coldly and professionally, and JEAN-BAPTISE, tri-beam laser rifle leaning on his chair, sit in front of TWO VAN GRAFF GUARDS, each standing at attention, plasma rifle in hand, in the office of the Crimson Caravan Company. ALICE MCLAFFERTY, sitting bitterly at her desk and her BODYGUARD, the same one throughout the run of the series, stands behind her, still leaning on the back wall.

MCLAFFERTY  
Any idea why I’m so dissatisfied with our deal, Ms. Van Graff?

GLORIA  
Is it because your guards were unable to contact you after the job had been completed?

McLafferty reclines in her chair.

MCLAFFERTY  
That’s not too far of the mark, but the answer is that my  
contractors may be dead, in addition to your soldiers. 

Gloria looks unblinkingly at McLafferty. McLafferty returns the glare and her Bodyguard for the first time, shows an expression of disgust.

GLORIA  
You misunderstand. My men aren’t the common men like those in your employ.  
While yours can be blown over by a strong breeze, mine have the firepower,  
armor, and know how to stop a squad of the Republic’s Rangers before one of them  
can so much as draw. My men wouldn’t fall to the likes of these caravaneers. 

MCLAFFERTY  
Putting your pride aside for a moment, we have to consider  
what would happen if the job were to remain unfinished. 

Gloria remains leaning forward. Jean laughs to himself in his chair. The Van Graff Guards behind them remain still.

GLORIA  
It isn’t. Cassidy was confirmed by NCR radio, as was Griffin, and Durable Dunn,  
always a prompt delivery boy, still hasn’t reported in after three days of lateness. 

MCLAFFERTY  
But neither have our men. That doesn’t concern you?

GLORIA  
If they went down, they took the others with them.

JEAN  
If your boys turned on ‘em, then that goes double. NCR pussies never  
knew how to fight. Numbers are the only reason your country  
hasn’t been snuffed out yet. One on one, your boys aren’t worth shit.

The Bodyguard gets up from the wall, starting to bring about his shotgun.

BODYGUARD  
You son of a bitch!

He’s instantly met by Jean, getting up from his chair, drawing his tri-beam laser rifle, and the Van Graff guards, all but Gloria of the Van Graff party aim at the Bodyguard, freezing him in fear before he can draw. McLafferty glares at them, a bit of anger in her tone.

MCLAFFERTY  
You’re right, you know, about our numbers. The dozens outside,  
the hundreds in Freeside, The thousands across the Mojave.

The Van Graffs lower their weapons. Jean sits back down, disappointed, and McLafferty turns in her chair to confront her Bodyguard.

MCLAFFERTY  
Don’t think you’re off the hook. You were hired to display professionalism and to  
protect the head of company, and right then, you were in a position to do neither. 

Gloria smirks, resting her head on her hand.

GLORIA  
My apologies for my brother and employees. I’ve clearly told them  
not to assault the Republic when in a position of such disadvantage.

McLafferty rubs her forehead in frustration. Gloria calls her on her claim, a continuous annoyance for McLafferty.

MCLAFFERTY  
Keep in mind, we have an agreement. For your assistance in  
consolidating the Mojave’s caravan options, the Republic- 

GLORIA  
I didn’t know the Republic was aware of this transaction.

McLafferty leans in, annoyed at Gloria.

MCLAFFERTY  
With all due respect to the legislators back home, I AM the shipping industry  
of the Republic, and while they won’t know the ins and outs of our deal,  
they will know your business efforts and interests are to be given top priority.

Gloria gets up, smiling coldly. Jean and Van Graff Guards follow her.

GLORIA  
Your government disgusts me, but your newfound monopoly  
should be grateful that’s not the case with your money.

MCLAFFERTY  
Remember, I have the contract. If you sell us out, we’re dragging you down.

Gloria turns back to McLafferty, still smiling coldly. There’s intense and angry eye contact between the two of them.

GLORIA  
Same to you, Ms. McLafferty. Pleasure doing business with you.

Jean addresses Gloria, scowling at the interaction. Gloria’s stopped smiling, turning slightly to her brother.

GLORIA  
She’s got a point, you know.

JEAN  
About?

GLORIA  
Our men not checking in.

JEAN  
You’re really worried about that? Odds are our men are alive,  
and even if they’re not, who would be dumb enough to attack us?

Cut back to Cass and Courier at Durable Dunn’s Caravan wreckage. Cass picks up her shotgun, opening the breech to reload it.

CASS  
We know who’s done this, and now we’re going to make them pay.

COURIER  
Like you did just now?

Cass snaps the shotgun shut.

CASS  
I’d say yeah, in a similar style. McLafferty and the Van Graffs. 

Courier steps forward, putting his hand on the barrels of the shotgun, lowering them. 

COURIER  
You know you can’t do that.

CASS  
Fuck yes, I can. Alice and Gloria aren’t too far off from here. I’ve got the drive and the ammo.

Courier steps forward trying to reason with Cass.

COURIER  
Have you seen the Crimson Caravan I’ve seen? That place is swarming  
with people. People, I’ll remind you, blissfully unaware about  
the shit-storm McLafferty let loose on your gang. NCR citizens all. 

Cass waves her arms in frustration and walking away. Courier follows her.

CASS  
You think that fucking matters to me?

COURIER  
I know it does. You told me they’re the best hope for the Mojave, so what are you  
going to do? Walk in, challenge Alice to duel like a goddamn knight, and expect  
to walk out of there after you brained their boss? At the very least, you’re a fugitive.

Cass turns angrily and sharply, facing Courier, who stands taller than her, not flinching.

CASS  
I don’t have to start with them, you know.

COURIER  
So you start with a platoon of merciless, futuristic soldiers, their leader they’ve trained  
to protect, and her brother, who, in addition to having a plasma gun twice your size and  
the hardest right hook I’ve ever felt, I’m beginning to think has a bit of a rude streak-

Cass yells at Courier and shoves him. 

CASS  
So what’s your goddamn solution, huh?! Drink myself back into a  
corner and forget the fact that my crew, my new family, is dead, let  
McLafferty and Van Graff run this place, and die knowing there’s no justice?

Courier responds calmly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

COURIER  
I’m not saying don’t get revenge, but there are other ways to get back at them.

CASS  
How?

COURIER  
Use the Republic against them.

Cass looks at him, annoyed.

CASS  
Are you forgetting that McLafferty is NCR?

COURIER  
No, but so is Jackson.

Cass turns around, her back to Courier, who keeps pressing the point of his argument.

COURIER  
Crimson Caravan and the Silver Rush do business with and in the NCR, so if  
we expose the two of them, imagine how much that’ll hurt them. If they don’t  
want to be charged for murder, they’d have to bend over for the Republic.

Cass throws her arms to the ground, turning to Courier in frustration.

CASS  
Fuck!

Cass turns, pointing and yelling at Courier.

CASS  
Can I just say that I hate you? You’d better be right about this.

COURIER  
I am.

CASS  
Better hope so. You’re word’s the only thing stopping  
me from storming this whole fucking desert.

Courier puts a hand on her shoulder.

COURIER  
I don’t doubt that you could, but there’s people that could get swallowed  
up once the NCR’s supply line gets cut. Starvation, Legion, Fiends.

CASS  
Fiends... At least Legion’s a civilization; a pillaging, raping  
civilization, but hell, that’s still something. Fiends, they’re a bunch  
of junkies planning on sending us back to the dark ages. 

They start walking.

COURIER  
As it is, NCR’s holding their own, but cut those supplies and who knows how that’ll work.

CASS  
If we’re doing this all civil-like, we’re going to McLafferty first. Van Graffs  
have no reason to hear us out, and I’m betting NCR won’t open fire on us outright. 

Cass and Courier joke, smiling to relieve the tension, knowing that this endeavor will likely kill them.

COURIER  
I’ve got business with McLafferty, anyway. Remember that kid we found in the Wrangler?

CASS  
Blonde, well dressed, whiny bitch?

COURIER  
That’s the one. I convinced him to skip town on Alice’s  
behalf, and I figured I could discuss payment with her to stall.

A view of the two of them from behind.

CASS  
While I go into her office and look for some evidence.

COURIER  
You’d think she’d be dense enough to keep a record of that around?

Cut to Van Graff soldiers standing over the smoldering remains of an NCR settlement, firing energy rifles at panicked NCR citizens ten years ago.

CASS  
Not dense; cautious. You obviously haven’t heard the horror stories of what Van  
Graffs did in the early days of the Republic. They hated us, and kept trying to  
snuff us out, until our numbers got to be too much for them to dream of taking on. I’m  
guessing both parties took countermeasures to make sure the other one can’t backstab them. 

COURIER  
Then why would McLafferty hire someone like that?

One-shot of Cass.

CASS  
Think about it. No grievances about butchering Republic citizens, she’d get her monopoly,  
and the Van Graffs are the most efficient killers the Mojave’s got, Legion notwithstanding. 

It’s now night, and Cass and Courier walk through the massive door to the Crimson Caravan Company, still largely bustling with a similar crowd as before. A cluster of NCR TROOPERS, the same troopers from the Mojave Outpost, hang around the outside of a one story wooden building, similar to the rest of the buildings, on the right side of the entry path. 

CASS  
Alright. This plan is starting to sound like we’ve got a chance. Distract  
her, got that? Whatever it takes, until I’m clear out of the office. 

Cass nudges towards the TROOPERS. Courier face-palms. 

COURIER  
Got it. Just keep it low profile. The less the NCR sees us here, the  
greater the chance of getting out of here and blowing the lid off of it.

CASS  
Oh shit, look.

COURIER  
Damn it!

TROOPER 1, now with a bandage over his nose, TROOPER 2, TROOPER 3, and TROOPER 4 stand in uniform, service rifles slung over their backs, against a building. Trooper 1 notices Cass, and gets nervous and motions to alert the others.

TROOPER 2  
Oh shit, look.

TROOPER 1  
Damn it!

Courier steps away from Cass, heading off the path. Cass continues.

COURIER  
Stay on task. Don’t do it again.

CASS  
Do what?

COURIER  
Pick a fight.

Cass smiles at Courier, who looks back worried.

CASS  
When have I ever done that?

COURIER  
I’m not asking you to commit to it, but just give not  
exchanging punches to the face as if they were “hellos” a try. 

CASS  
Relax. I know the stakes here.

Troopers stand tall as Cass walks by.

TROOPER 1  
Cass.

CASS  
Trooper.

Trooper 1 is somewhat deflated at this.

TROOPER 1  
Oh come on, I have a name.

CASS  
Too bad I don’t have an interest. What are you doing out here?

He motions to his squad.

TROOPER 1  
We were stationed here. How about you? Looking to get in on the Caravan?

CASS  
You could say that.

He rubs the back of his neck. Cass appears unaffected.

TROOPER 1  
Hey, I... I wanted to apologize for the Outpost. Wasn’t right how I acted.

CASS  
How’s the nose?

TROOPER 1  
Broken.

Cass walks away, as the Trooper 1 lowers his helmet to try covering his face. The other Troopers chuckle at this.

CASS  
Just checking. That was some apology, bud. Could’ve  
sworn I remembered you having balls. Guess I was right.

Courier approaches McLafferty, walking briskly. McLafferty is followed, as always by her Bodyguard, and they’re going to the office building that Cass is meant to search. She’s surprised by Courier’s appearance.

COURIER  
McLafferty.

MCLAFFERTY  
Oh, it’s you. What do you want?

Cass enters the office building unnoticed.

COURIER  
Jamison’s no longer going to be a problem.

MCLAFFERTY  
Is that so?

Cass rustles through papers on McLafferty’s desk, searching for the contract. 

MCLAFFERTY  
How’d you swing that?

COURIER  
I found out some dirt on him. Turns out he had a gambling debt with the Omertas. 

A CARAVANEER and CARAVAN GUARD stand outside the gate to Crimson Caravan, smoking and talking. Silhouettes of smiling, thuggishly clad men and women in scraped together wasteland armor and leather helmets topped with ram skulls and weapons ranging from plasma rifles, to shotguns, to pool cues and plasma grenades, run about the hills and rocks. They are the FIENDS.

MCLAFFERTY  
Son of a bitch. Did the Omertas actually come for him?

COURIER  
Way I see it, they’re bound to come for him eventually.

Cass keeps looking, and out of the corner of her eye, spots that there’s a small safe next to the lower right corner of the desk.

MCLAFFERTY  
If you don’t keep your nose clean, it’s bound to bite you back.

McLafferty, Courier, and Bodyguard are nearing the office. Courier gets in front of them and tries to delay her entry.

MCLAFFERTY  
Well, that settles that. We’d agreed on five hundred caps?

COURIER  
About that; no.

MCLAFFERTY  
Excuse me?

Cass struggles with the safe.

COURIER  
Not good enough. I want more.

MCLAFFERTY  
So you’re one of those types, eh? Always looking to leech  
another hundred after the standing rate has been negotiated.

Cass cracks open the safe with the stock of her shotgun.

COURIER  
I’d say I’ve been your most reliable contractor and deserve to be paid as such.

On the left side of the screen, McLafferty opens the door to her office. Bodyguard stands with his shotgun parallel to Courier, keeping him out of the room. Courier is worried for Cass, and Cass is digging through the safe. 

MCLAFFERTY  
That sort of talk may work on lesser people, sir, but it will not work on me. If you  
would wait a moment with my escort, I’d be glad to pay you the amount you’ve earned. 

McLafferty shuts the door, and Cass looks up to see her, her shotgun tossed to the side, out of immediate reach.

CASS  
Fuck.

McLafferty is surprised.

MCLAFFERTY  
Cassidy! What are you doing here?

CASS  
He said he’d goddamn stall... I know what you did, McLafferty.

McLafferty regains her composure, walking over to her desk.

MCLAFFERTY  
How the hell did you find out and how did you break into my safe?

CASS  
One of your boys survived long enough to answer some  
questions. And the safe is 200 fucking years old. Think about it.

McLafferty is tense and confused.

MCLAFFERTY  
I must admit, I thought if you’d ever found out, you’d be  
in here to kill me, yet you haven’t drawn down on me.

CASS  
A promise to a friend.

McLafferty smiles smugly and Cass snarls.

MCLAFFERTY  
Could’ve sworn I killed all of them. That Courier!

CASS  
Bitch... So you’ll have us arrested, is that it?

McLafferty draws a small, silenced pistol from her desk.

MCLAFFERTY  
Oh my, no. I’m going to have your accomplice arrested and rotting  
in jail. You, however, overestimate my mercy, you fucking gnat.

Cass tries moving back, but McLafferty shoots her in the arm. 

MCLAFFERTY  
No, by all means, go ahead and reach for your weapon. See how far you get.  
Cry out for your friend and bring the whole company down on the two of you.

Cass is crouching, clutching her wounded arm. McLafferty smiles down at her, condescendingly.

CASS  
Goddamn coward! Firing a silenced weapon on an unarmed enemy. Fitting. 

MCLAFFERTY  
Maybe, but what’s truly fitting is that I kill you in utter silence,  
leaving you another unsolvable mystery of the Mojave no one  
gives enough of a shit to answer. Much like Cassidy Caravans.

The silhouettes from the panel outside the company interior are spotted by the Crimson Caravaneer and Caravan guard, who begin to panic and draw their weapons. One of the silhouettes begins winding back to lob a grenade.

CARAVAN GUARD  
Fiends...

The Caravan guard tries in vain to shoot the silhouettes, missing widely, and the Crimson Caravaneer pounds on the gate. The grenade flies closer to them.

CARAVAN GUARD  
FIENDS!

CRIMSON CARAVANEER  
For the love of god, let me in!

From inside the camp, Courier and Bodyguard, the four Troopers, on the other side of the panel, and countless Caravaneers and Civilians move around the company grounds, with the gate behind all of them sealed. The gate explodes in a burst of green plasma energy and fire. Bodyguard runs for the door to alert McLafferty. Courier is surprised by the noise and run to see what made it, drawing his revolver. Several people are charred, injured, and dead in front among the remains of the gate. Trooper 1 draws his rifle and starts issuing orders to his squad. Trooper 2 rushes Caravaneers and Civilians to safety. Troopers 3 & 4 draw their rifles and take up positions just around the outside of the blast radius to brace for the Fiends. Caravan Guards run up to help them.

TROOPER 2  
Everyone get back!

TROOPER 1  
Squad, brace for Fiends!

Nearly ten FIENDS pour into the gaping hole of the gate, firing the variety of weapons previously described. They shoot at the fleeing Civilians and combatants alike. A civilian or two is wounded by laser, plasma, or gunfire. An injured Caravaneer lays on the ground, a terrified expression on her face. NCR Troopers open fire, hitting a few of the Fiends and killing two. Caravan Guards shoot at the Fiends, killing one, but one of their own number is shot in the process. One Fiend with a plasma grenade in his left hand and a lead pipe in the other approaches the downed Caravaneer, raising the pipe. The Pipe Fiend raises the lead pipe to bring it down on the poor woman, when he’s shot through the side by an NCR Trooper. He looks up and reflected in his dilated eyes, we see a reflection of Courier and the NCR Troopers aiming at him. He’s shot in the chest twice more by NCR Troopers and once in the head by Courier, Courier’s heavy .44 bullet, knocking what’s left of his head back, his body along with it. The plasma grenade, still inactive, bounces towards the Courier’s end of the line, halfway between Courier and the entrance of the office. The Caravaneer previously on the ground gets up and scrambles, low to the ground, for safety. McLafferty has Cass at gunpoint, in the moment before the attack.

MCLAFFERTY  
Maybe, but what’s truly fitting is that I kill you in utter silence,  
leaving you another unsolvable mystery of the Mojave no one  
gives enough of a shit to answer. Much like Cassidy Caravans.

The gate explodes outside, the force of the explosion and shock of the noise startle McLafferty, allowing Cass to run for the door. McLafferty comes to and angrily screams at her, pointing her gun at her.

MCLAFFERTY  
You’ll never leave here alive, you little shit!

McLafferty fires at Cass, each shot missing the moving target, as Cass opens the door and dives out. Cass clings the cover of the wall and looks up to see Courier, who turns back to look at her, Cass being the newest addition to stress and confusion. Cass looks pumped with emotion and adrenaline. Courier looks concerned for her. Cass eyes the grenade that has landed near her. She looks back to Courier, looking apologetic and upset.

COURIER  
Cass.

Cass runs for the grenade. Cass picks up the plasma grenade and pulls the pin. She throws it through the murky window of the office building. Cass tackles Courier to the ground, Fiend bullets and energy blasts firing around them. Bodyguard runs into the office to see McLafferty for the first time with a few strands of hair out of place, spewing profanities, and holding a smoking gun.

MCLAFFERTY  
That goddamn Cassidy just got away! Stop her!

BODYGUARD  
Ma’am, the Fiends are attacking!

McLafferty turns to him, angry and visibly disheveled.

MCLAFFERTY  
I don’t give a fuck about the Fiends! I stopped her before she got  
the papers she needs, but she knows, goddamnit! We don’t have  
time for subtlety. Kill her in the confusion. Before she can-

The plasma grenade shatters the small, dirty window on the door- side of her office. McLafferty is frozen in shock, and Bodyguard slumps to the ground, afraid of dying in the blast. The grenade bounces on her desk.

MCLAFFERTY  
Burn in hell, you fucking-

Cass and Courier are on the ground, Cass having tackled him. The two walls of the office closest to them explode in green plasma energy and fire.

COURIER  
CASS!

Troopers 3 & 4 and the Caravan Guards are surprised by the explosion, but keep firing on the Fiends. Trooper 1 sees this tackling and the explosion, assuming the grenade was thrown by the Fiends. Courier is now tending to Cass, bleeding from her arm, her back in pain from shielding him from the blast. Trooper 1 calls to Courier. 

TROOPER 1  
You! Get her out of here now!

Courier looks at Cass with anger and disappointment conflicting his gratitude for shielding him and Cass looks back with a pained expression. 

COURIER  
You heard him. On your feet, Cass!

They walk together, shoulder over shoulder, Courier’s revolver still in his free hand. Fiends charge to their deaths behind them, facing heavy casualties. Trooper 2 is hit and killed, as is another Caravan Guard. RINGO and a wave of Caravan Militia run in as reinforcements.

RINGO  
Sure picked a bad day for a visit, friend! Get the  
hell out of here! Crimson Caravan’ll hold its own.

Cass and Courier walk together out of the opposite end’s gate. Another four person squad of NCR TROOPERS pour in behind them to aid their comrades. Cass has her jacket and hat off, wincing in pain on an operating table in the New Vegas Medical Clinic. Two FOLLOWERS DOCTORS operate on her. From overhead we see her injected with a syringe. She relaxes and breathes. One of the doctors leave the table and turn to Courier, leaning on the back wall of the Clinic.

FOLLOWERS DOCTOR  
She’ll be fine, Courier. Just give her an hour or two to get back on her feet.

COURIER  
Thanks, doc. Could I have a minute alone with her.

FOLLOWERS DOCTOR  
Alright, just take it easy on her, okay?

Followers Doctors leave Courier alone with Cass. He leans over her on the table. She’s still conscious and leans up on her elbows. 

CASS  
Thank you.

COURIER  
You’re lucky the Followers had a Clinic nearby. Would  
you like to tell me what the fuck happened back there?

CASS  
I swear I held out as long as I could. McLafferty pulled a gun on  
me when I’d just started searching her safe. I barely got out of there, and  
if I hadn’t done what I did, she’d have shot me and had you arrested.

Cass further explains.

CASS  
You thought it would be some easy thing, like to go in without hurting  
anyone, and somehow get out unscathed? The people I’m hunting don’t  
conform to that. They sent hit squads to wipe out half of everyone I care about,  
and you thought we could just charge in like some old timey heroes and stop them.

Cass doesn’t make eye contact.

CASS  
We can’t do that. These are hardened killers, and we have to treat  
this as if they were Legion. Look, I know you didn’t sign up for that.  
Before I go charging into the Van Graffs, popping open all the  
skulls I can before I’m dusted, I’m telling you that you can go. 

COURIER  
What?

Cass holds his hand.

CASS  
You know you matter to me, ok? Loyalty like you’ve been showing... look, I didn’t  
tackle you back there just because I don’t care. Just... get out before I get us both killed.

COURIER  
They must’ve doped you pretty hard.

CASS  
Huh?

Courier looks at her, optimistically. 

COURIER  
I’m not walking out on you, Cass. We tried it my way, and that nearly got  
you killed accomplishing nothing. I don’t like it, but if the only way to get  
justice is to storm the Van Graffs, then it’s not like we have any other choice.

Cass blushes, restating her point.

CASS  
We’re going to die.

Cass sits up, hand no longer being held. Courier puts an arm around her shoulder, sitting down.

COURIER  
No, we’re not. If we’re taking them down, we’re not letting them drag  
us to hell with them. We’re going to do this and get out of there alive. 

CASS  
How the fuck are we going to do that?

COURIER  
Freeside.


End file.
